The Historical Anti-Semitism of 168BC

The kingdom of Alexander the Great was divided up after his death and Syria and Judah was ruled by King Antiochus III.
King Antiochus IV came next as the king of the Syrian Greeks and he bore down on his Jewish subjects with a measure of ruthlessness, stubbornness and cruelty that earned him the nickname Antiochus the Madman.

1) He defiled the Ba Yeet Shenee (The Second Temple) filling it with pagan idols, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, and requiring the sacrifice of pigs on the altar.

2) a. He forbade the Jews to observe the commandments of Brit Milah (Circumcision).
b. Ha Rosh Chodesh (The New Moon).
c. Ha Shabbat (The Sabbath).
d. The reading and study of the Torah and Tanakh.

3) Jews who dared to remain loyal to their faith were brutally tortured and murdered.

4) If a woman had her infant circumcised, she was publicly put to death, the baby then publicly hanged, and all who participated in the circumcision ceremony were then executed and their property confiscated.

5) A Hellenistic life style and culture replaced the Hebraic one and so Hellenism was forced upon the Jews with a Greek gymnasium erected next to the temple mount. Greek traditions dominated life in the city of Jerusalem but only for a period!
Judah the Maccabee and his men were about to turn the tables.